ИСТИНА

Despite the fact that many French travelers of the 19th century shared their impressions of visiting Russia in their memoirs, the modern readers are mostly familiar with the works of the Marquis de Custine, a writer, a traveler and, using the modern definition, a culturologist. The sphere of his interests was not exclusively limited to the study of the Russian culture — in his books he captured the features of the English, Scottish, Swiss, Italian, Spanish life; in other words, he conducted cultural research on the territory of the states he visited. His aristocratic origin and extensive contacts, which provided the opportunity to receive letters of recommendation addressed to people of high social status, allowed the marquis to get quite closely acquainted with the peculiarities of the Russian noble life of the Nicholas era and communicate with the emperor himself and the empress Alexandra Fedorovna. Of course, de Custine's short stay in the country and the use of unverified sources of information caused a number of inexcusable factual errors in his two-volume book about Russia, but it was not the reason that gave rise to the sharp condemnation of his work by most of the Russian nobles. From the point of view of the readers, his book presented a tough and derogatory remark of sociological, economic, historical features of the development of the Russian culture, mentality, and relationships between people. In addition, the author drew parallels between different civilizations, often not to the benefit of the Russia. However, the time has come for an objective assessment of Astolphe de Custine's book and its impact on the Russian recipients.